Aamina Ahmad was born and raised in London, England. Her first novel, The Return of 
Faraz Ali, was named a notable New York Times pick for 2022 and went on to win the 
Art Siedenbaum Los Angeles Times First Book prize, The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain First Book prize, and the Gordon Bowker Volcano prize. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has been a recipient of a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University, a Pushcart Prize, and a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award. She is also the author of a play, The Dishonored. She teaches creative writing at the University of Minnesota. Her collection of short stories is forthcoming from Riverhead in 2026.